Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were intimated by:-

Councillor Sandy Taylor

Johhny Durnan

The Minute of the previous meeting held on 5 February, 2013 was approved as a true and correct record.

No matters which are not covered later in the Agenda.

The Partnership heard from Morag Brown, IOD Programme Manager, on the background to Community Resilience at Argyll and Bute Council.  She advised that following on from the recent Kintyre Emergency, 47% of local Community Councils across the Argyll and Bute area were preparing emergency plans and her team was tasked with assisting in the development of these plans.  In the MAKI area 33% were in the process of compiling plans.  She reported that the Scottish Government had provided a £10,000 grant and this funding had been utilised to purchase emergency kitbags.  These are to be distributed to participating Community Councils and other appropriate groups, as necessary.   

At the recent MAKI Business Day held on 1 May, there had been a debrief to capture local issues encountered during the recent Kintyre Weather Emergency and Attendees had comprised representatives  from local communities, Elected Members and local Partners.  This debrief was thought to have been effective and again highlighted the necessity for good communication at all levels.

Discussion continued in regards responsibility of the Civil Contingency Team on the Islands.  Glenmore Roberts stated that the Community Council were happy with the level of support by the Civil Contingency Team on Islay.  Morag Brown offered assistance in reviewing the current Islay Emergency Plan; and detailed the benefit of having 2 interrelated plans in place in the event of future emergencies; the first plan being the emergency services response in the event of an emergency and the second being the community response which can help target the emergency services reponse. Chief Inspector Baillie reiterated this point and highlighted the need to target and formalise local intelligence.

Councillor Horn indicated that she had concerns regarding a specific local community council and would make direct contact with Morag Brown to discuss the detail.

Decision

It was agreed that Morag Brown would instigate a meeting with Glenmore Roberts to give further discussion and guidance on their Emergency Plan. 

The budget remains at £1872.00

The balance of funding remained at £1872.00.

No applications have been received, as yet.

Domestic abuse figures were down from last year and the detection rate for recorded crimes amounted to 83%  

Chief Inspector Baillie reported on the new recording system and detailed the stats for the MAKI area. There had been no homophobic incidents reported in the last reporting period.

No update.

Helen Lambertini, Argyll and Bute Rape Crisis, detailed the work currently being undertaken by her organisation and distributed a pack to the group which provided her contact details and an information booklets.

Helen reported on the group's funding restrictions and requested that she attend a future meeting to give a presentation. 

Decision

Helen was invited to a give a presentation at a future meeting.

Helen's contact details are detailed below:-

Helen Lambertini

helen@ab-rc.org.uk

Tel: 07733881710

The number of incidents is substantially down for the reporting period.

Chief Inspector Baillie reported that youth crime and disorder showed an upward trend.  The Police were working with local schools and the Youth Cafe to endeavour to address this issue

Andy Hemmings reported on the issue of bed remodelling at Campbeltown Hospital which was an on-going issue and in his opinion, would result in problems in the provision of care perhaps raising the need for additional resources to ensure adequate care.       

Andy McClure reported on the on-going SFR Home Fire Safety initiative and requested that Partners continue to refer people who, in their opinion, would benefit from this service.

No update.

No update received.

Stephen Doogan updated the group on the Green Dog Walking schemes initiative.

The group decided that in the MAKI area there was no quantified recognised need to adopt this scheme, given the other measures in place.

He reported on the ‘No Cold Calling initiative’ led by Trading Standards with police support which is being piloted on Bute and produced an example of a display notice.  Chief Inspector Baillie indicated that Sergeant Mark Wilson in involved in planning this initiative and the Area Governance Officer agreed to liaise with both Mark and Trading Standards.

Decision

An update on the Cold Calling scheme would be brought to the next meeting in August.

Peter Howland enquired if local stats were being received on a timely manner after the implementation of the new Police Force.  Chief Inspector Baillie reported that stats were produced on a weekly basis and accurately reflected the MAKI stats. 

She reported on Fuel Theft, which was an Argyll and Bute wide issue and advised that one theory put forward was perhaps an increase in fuel consumption by householders, utilising a higher level of usage.  Perhaps leading to the assumption that fuel was being stolen. 

Chief Inspector Baillie advised that the Police had liaised with local fuel companies on this issue to ascertain historical usage by householders to gauge if there was a criminal element to this.

She commended the fuel leaflet devised by KCP, highlighting precautions that homeowners may take to avoid fuel theft.

Andy Hemmings reported on the compilation of a further leaflet providing information to teenagers moving to cities.  The leaflet was in the process of being produced and would be ready for distribution in August.

Andy McClure reported that there were no local operational changes to the new Scotland Fire and Rescue Service.  He advised that Paul Connelly, Area Commander,  was now based in Helensburgh.

Andy highlighted the recent spate of grass fires which had been a serious issue during the month of April.

He advised the group that recruitment was being progressed effectively.

Chief Insepctor Baillie detailed the latest stats for the area and reported that these were a similar picture to the previous year.

None reported.

Peter Howland enquired if Scotland Fire and Rescue had boats which were availabel for inland waterways.  Andy Maclure replied that they had boats which were available.  However, they were not utilised in tidal waters.

This was discussed at Item 9 (a).

(List of events to be submitted by all partners where there may be an impact upon another service/organisation)

The Area Governance Officer reported on a forthcoming event ' Safe and Sound' in Cowal and distributed a leaflet advertising the event.  He would provide feedback to the group at the next meeting.

Glenmore Roberts highlighted the issue of signage on certain Islay beaches and enquired on the status of this issue.

The Area Governance Officer agreed to contact the Islay technical officer to check on the status of the signage.